Students often remark coming to Cambridge is like stepping back in time, but it was doubly true at one college today, where they found themselves waking up in the 1950s.

Undergraduates running late for lectures had an extra obstacle to get past at Gonville and Caius, as it was transformed by an ITV crew filming the Grantchester Christmas special.

The ITV production crew working on the Grantchester Christmas special in Cambridge (Image: Harry Hubbard)

But while the Trinity Street college has changed little since the period the hit drama is set, crews still had their work cut out for them, as they transported Freshers’ Week Cambridge back to a festive wonderland.

Fake snow and period dressing was applied to the scene, while any snoozing students would have been woken by the sounds of carol singers and the Salvation Army Band.

The Salvation Army Band perform, as Grantchester films its Christmas special in Cambridge (Image: Harry Hubbard)

Mick Gibbs, the college’s estate health and safety manager, was on-hand to make sure things ran smoothly for stars James Norton and Robson Green.

He told the News : “It went really well, it was snowing here, with Christmas light hanging up.

“I got a photo with Robson Green and James Norton and they were both very, very polite, and very obliging.”